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Mar 9, 2018 at 10:19 PMMar 10, 2018 at 5:34 PM

The architect behind the meteoric rise of Jacksonville University women’s basketball -- from a total afterthought into the biggest challenger to the ASUN Conference dynasty of Florida Gulf Coast – didn’t follow a conventional hoops path.

Yolette McPhee-McCuin grew up in the city of Freeport on the island country of the Bahamas, the daughter of a legendary coach there in Gladstone “Moon” McPhee. She honed her point-guard skills at three different colleges (Florida Atlantic, Miami-Dade CC and Rhode Island), but McCuin’s unique coaching style is a direct product of her heritage.

“Our Bahamian culture is prideful, jubilant, competitive and likes to have fun,” said McCuin.

Indeed, it’s as much the force of her exuberant personality, a trait inherited from her mother, Daisy, as the basketball influence from Dad that has allowed McCuin to elevate JU into one of the most improved mid-major programs in the country.

“It’s rare what she’s got, but rareness wins,” said Dolphins’ assistant coach Darnell Haney, who has been on McCuin’s staff all five seasons. “She loves life, she’s enthusiastic. She believes in herself and the kids tremendously. There’s no wavering. It helps our girls get that swagger that we play with on the floor.”

Though only 5-foot-4, McCuin stands tall in the college coaching industry because her positive, upbeat and boisterous demeanor tends to attract followers. Whether it’s high school recruits who find her demanding regimen appealing, her fun-loving presence on social media, or leading the Dolphins to unprecedented success, the 35-year-old McCuin has a way of getting your attention.

She has led JU to three consecutive 20-win seasons, including a record 24 victories going into Sunday’s ASUN tournament finals against perennial power Gulf Coast in Fort Myers. If the Dolphins capture the title and earn a second NCAA berth in three years, the only downside for JU is McCuin’s rise in the profession could entice a Power-5 school like Ole Miss or others with impending vacancies to make her an offer she can’t refuse.

“We just want to be comfortable as a family,” said McCuin, who is married with two daughters, ages 5 and 10 months. “Clearly, I’m not running from Jacksonville. We love it here. It’s close to home, so my family can get here from the Bahamas all the time.

“My administration, the president [Tim Cost] and faculty have been nothing but supportive. It’s going to have to be a really good situation for my family and me [to leave JU].”

But McCuin checks a lot of boxes for athletic directors in the market for a head coach. That includes her being young, female and black, all appealing demographics in an industry where only 10.9 percent of college women’s head coaches are African-American females, according to a 2017 study by Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

But the biggest trump card for McCuin, known to everyone as “Coach Yo,” is her dynamic personality and what she’s done to raise JU’s basketball profile. The Dolphins had 11 losing seasons in the previous 14 years of their existence before the former Clemson assistant was hired in 2013.

Since McCuin arrived, she has recruited four 1,000-point scorers, put three players in the pro ranks overseas, won 69 games the last three seasons, and been the most consistent challenger to Gulf Coast’s dominance in the ASUN. The last seven JU games with the Eagles have been decided by an average of four points, with the Dolphins winning twice after dropping 21 consecutive contests to FGCU from 2008-16.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, who led the Gamecocks to the national championship last year, has known McCuin since her playing days at Rhode Island, at which time she served as the head coach at Temple. Staley’s Gamecocks beat JU 77-41 in the opening round of the 2016 NCAA tourney, but she believes McCuin was destined for success long before that.

“Yo was the same fireball then [as a college player] that she is now,” said Staley, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and also the U.S. Olympic coach. “You see someone that has come up the right way. She’s young enough to be in that age group wanting instant gratification, yet she’s grounded. She’s got an old soul with a new-kid-on-the-block attitude.

“There’s growing pains, maturity-wise, as a head coach. JU was a great fit for her at the time they hired her. She’s found the right balance. People have to buy into your vision, even though they don’t want to at first. She seems to have that infectious pull on people, no matter what age.”

McCuin’s players vouch for her feisty attitude and warmth. She is able to balance the tricky responsibility of being a coach – one who isn’t shy about communicating in stronger than PG-13 language – and a quasi-big sister who stays in tune with their generation, sometimes going with her players to get pedicures.

Old-school coaches might think that crosses a line, but McCuin’s nature is to stay connected with her players beyond basketball or basic mentoring.

“It’s a vibe you get with her, she’s just so motivating,” said four-year JU senior guard Brandi Buie. “If you plan on playing for her, you have to be willing to be pushed, go through challenges and be tough. She’s going to push you on the court, in the classroom and [working] the community.

“She jokes around, she does dance battles with the team before and after practices. She always has the newest music, trying to put us on to new songs. She’s just always hyped.”

Naqaiyyah Teague transferred to JU from UNC-Wilmington for her senior year without ever visiting the campus or meeting McCuin in person. She went largely on a recommendation from former JU player Jarvis Haywood, who finished his career at UNCW, because of what he knew about McCuin. Teague committed to JU after one 20-minute phone conversation with McCuin.

“She was just real from the jump, and that’s what I wanted to be around,” Teague said. “It’s easy to believe in a coach that believes in you. She puts in so much work, you just don’t want to let her down.”

In Wednesday’s ASUN semifinal against crosstown rival North Florida, the Dolphins survived more on resiliency and toughness than anything else. Trailing 68-58 with less than four minutes remaining, JU rallied to win in overtime behind the senior trio of Buie, Teague and Kayla Gordon, along with a timely block from Jasmyn Brown in the closing seconds of regulation.

The comeback win prompted McCuin to take the P.A. microphone and scream out in excitement to the Swisher Gym crowd: “We going to the ‘ship! We going to the ‘ship!,” meaning the ASUN title game.

Certainly not a typical coach reaction, but it was vintage Yo. Don’t ask her to curb her enthusiasm. There’s a reason that her social media hashtag is #NoCeilings, a mantra she adopted after former Clemson player Nikki Dixon recommended the slogan for when she became a head coach.

“I asked why she picked that slogan and [Dixon] says, ‘Because no matter how good we do, it’s never good enough,’ “ said McCuin. “That means you can keep going, so I just ran with it.

“No ceilings is not just wins and losses. It means you can leave from JU and play pro. It means if you want to go to law school when you’re done playing, go to law school. It means you can be a mom with two kids, be a wife, and still coach. It means a lot of different things.”

For five years, McCuin has repeatedly implored her players not to put limits on what JU’s program can achieve, but the truth is she knows her ultimate dream will have to be reached somewhere else.

“My long-term goal is to get to the Final Four as a head coach,” said McCuin. “But until that day, I want to continue to raise banners wherever I am.”

Two WNIT banners and an NCAA tournament appearance the last three years are a huge accomplishment at JU. But just as Staley felt compelled to leave Temple, her hometown school, for a losing program at South Carolina that had more resources, it seems inevitable a Power 5 program will come after McCuin. She has two years remaining on her JU contract.

“As a competitor, you want to spread your wings and compete against the best,” Staley said. “JU has given her a good platform to hone her skills as a coach. You have to make your decision [on coaching moves] based on what your appetite is for success.”

No matter what happens in Sunday’s ASUN championship game, JU knows it has a rising star in Coach Yo and it’d love to keep her for the long haul.

But the electrifying McCuin always hungers for more. Sooner or later, it’s hard to imagine she won’t be raising the ceiling elsewhere on a bigger, brighter hoops stage.

gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540

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